Solomon: Harden can’t be a one-man show for Rockets

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On men and boys, and women and girls. Clutch the bear even went Grizzly, as in Adams, on us during one break in the action.

These bearded people kept popping up on the barely noticeable video screen above the court were enough. By barely noticeable video screen, I mean one would barely notice it if he kept his eyes closed and back turned.

Speaking of having your back turned, a hairy chin wasn’t enough for one guy, who sported a droopy beard and a cutout of James Harden on the back of his head. And by cutout, I mean cut, out.
Barber: “You want your hair to look like that guy in the picture’s hair?”

Rockets fanatic: “No, I want my hair to look like that guy in the picture.”

Oh yeah, the Rockets are hosting a different kind of party this season. For the first time in recent memory, Hope was actually in the building. And, yes, it was wearing a beard, too.

But all the newness, all the buzz and all the fake beards this side of an Amish Halloween party weren’t enough for this home opener.

In the end you might ask who was that bearded man on the basketball court? It wasn’t the James Harden we saw in the first two games of the Rockets season, that’s for sure.

The original Harden, who has gladly stepped into the lead role as the top gun on a team in desperate need of one, failed to live up to that status through much of the evening in his first appearance before the home crowd at Toyota Center.

After exploding for 82 points in the first two games including a career-high 45 points against Atlanta on Friday, Harden limped through a sluggish performance — a tweaked ankle didn’t help matters — in a 95-85 overtime loss to Portland.

Misfiring at every turn
An alpha dog of the first order, Harden brought little of his bite to the Trail Blazers. Clearly fatigued, Harden scored 24 points, but he hit just 2-of-11 shots in the second half and OT, including only 1-of-8 in the fourth quarter. He missed both shots he took in the extra period as the Rockets fell apart late.

“It was one of those nights where he missed shots he normally makes,” Rockets coach Kevin McHale said of his guard, who has been with the team for barely a week.

On such nights, Harden will need more help.

Where it will come from nobody knows. The team is so young and inexperienced that on any given night no one is guaranteed to show up. But the Rockets are talented enough that enough should show up most nights to keep it competitive.

Sometimes they are going to have to win ugly. The Rockets should have been able to do it Saturday but simply couldn’t make enough shots, hitting only 5-of-26 3-pointers and a disappointing 24-of-58 shots in the paint.

There were a lot of wasted opportunities.

The Rockets expect to have difficulty scoring in the half-court and want to push the ball, but midway through the fourth quarter and throughout the overtime they tended to settle for walking the ball up and letting Harden go one-on-one or play off a pick-and-roll to try to create.

On this night, it failed. Long term that won’t work, either.

Interest is high
No one is happier to have Harden step in as the lead option than Jeremy Lin, who though he attracted the spotlight with his showing for the Knicks last season, would rather work in the shadows.

He doesn’t have to worry about that. The newest Rocket already has cast a large shadow.

Harden might indeed be a star-level player, but he isn’t the one-man gang that he looked like in the first two nights, when he scored more points to start a season than anyone in the NBA besides a couple of guys named Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan.

That’s an elite neighborhood Harden is certainly likely to visit on occasion.

Still, these Rockets are an interesting team. More interesting than they have been in years.

From the Jeremy Lin Fan Club, some 100 deep on this night, to the Harden Hair Club, it is indeed a “new age” as the team’s marketing arm has so dubbed the 2012-13 season.